Die Biennale von Venedig ist mehr als nur eine Kunstausstellung – sie ist ein immersives Kunsterlebnis. Alle zwei Jahre verwandelt dieses Ereignis Venedig in eine dynamische Leinwand der Kreativität.
I’m very proud to have assisted journalist Neil Robbins in the final reading of his thoughtful book: Venice, an Odyssey.
Memories of the city he had seen when he was a student cross the different reality of Venice today.
A profound reportage on the environmental, social, and economic challenges of Venice today. I warmly recommend it to anyone interested in the complicated relationship between cultural heritage, economic profit, and environmental issues.
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Venice was one of the most international and vibrant capitals in ancient Europe. Many craftspeople and artists were attracted by the wealth that was invested to build new churches and palaces and embellish them with artworks, sculptures, funeral monuments, wooden ceilings, and fabrics of any sort.
Who built among the most extraordinary architecture of Venice?
A rich exhibition of 18thcentury Venetian art will bring you closer to the light and gentle spirit of the Rococo.
Masterpieces by great artists like Canaletto and Tiepolo dominates in the former apartment of the Doge; you can admire the bright pastel palette of Tiepolo and the cityscapes full of air and light of Canaletto. You can indulge in details that show daily life in the 18thcentury in the vedute and be captivated by the sensuousness of the figures in mythological stories.
Venedig war die größte Stadt über die Alpen, wo man über die neuen Ideen von Luther diskutieren konnte. Die Regierung war zwar katholisch aber in der reichen Hauptstadt war eine gewisse Toleranz üblich.
Most happy to share one of the many beautiful reviews, in German, on the volume I made together with the German photographer Norbert Heyl about the Gardens of Venice!
@Terra Magica Verlag 2017.
»Die Gärten von Venedig« von Cristina Gregorin, Norbert Heyl
Santa Maria dei Miracoli
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Ezra Pound called it a ‘jewel box’; today it is one of the most popular churches to celebrate a wedding. The Miracoli church is intimate and at the same time spectacular hidden shrine of Venice.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, but called by everyone Our Lady of the Miracles because of a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary standing above the main altar, this late 15th- century church is a symbol of the Venice of that time: rich, with a sophisticated sense of beauty, proud to carry on the classical legacy of the antique world, and proud of its very miracle: to stand on the water, like the church itself.
Giant’s Staircase, courtyard of the Doge’s Palace.
The Doge’s Palace of Venice is a shrine with lavishing gilt ceilings, great masterpieces by Veronese and Tiepolo, and hundreds of years of history visible on its many paintings but now there is a new reason to visit it.
Cino Zucchi, new construction on the Giudecca island, 1996-2003
Deutsche Version am Ende
People often think that Venice is a city where history has stopped with the fall of the Republic; a city that has not been touched by modernity.
On the contrary, throughout the 19th and 20th century, there have been intensive discussions on new urban plans that would help to develop the economy; thousands of buildings were pulled down and reconstructed in new forms.
Deutsche Zusammenfassung am Ende
On the northern side of Venice, in the Cannaregio district, you can find the Jesuits Church, which is richly ornate, and austere at the same time.
The order of the Jesuits was founded in 1534 by Ignatius of Loyola. The Spanish Saint had a military background and conceived the order as a well-organized structure open to men who wanted to “serve as soldiers of God”. Their aim was “the defense and propagation of the faith”.
Their sacral buildings are usually very imposing, with overwhelming decorations, aiming to show the power of the Catholic Church.
In Venice the Jesuits wanted to show their connections with the Venetian government as well as with the Vatican. The construction was commissioned to the best architect (Domenico Rossi) and artists (Louis Dorigny, Giuseppe Torretti) of that time.
The interior is covered by an extraordinary variety of marbles, part of them are carved and inlaid (like the one by the altar that looks like a carpet). Black and white marble inlaid on the columns looks like fabric.
The altar has a baldacchino with barley-twist columns and concealed lighting.
The ceiling is covered with gilded plasterwork and frescoes.
Among the artworks in the Gesuiti church there is an Assumption of the Virgin Mary by Tintoretto and an extraordinary Martyrdom of St. Lawrence by Titian. The painting (1548-57), made in a late phase of Titian’s life, when the artist couldn’t see very well and used his hands to put colors on the canvas, is one of the most astonishing night scene, of European Renaissance Art.
The Gesuiti Church is not as famous as the Frari or San Zaccaria but it is one of those many hidden ‘jewels’ that make Venice so special at every step.
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Auf der Nordseite von Venedig, im Stadtteil Cannaregio, befindet sich die reich verzierte und gleichzeitig strenge Jesuitenkirche.
Der Orden der Jesuiten wurde 1534 von Ignatius von Loyola gegründet. Der spanische Heilige hatte einen militärischen Hintergrund und konzipierte den Orden als eine gut organisierte Struktur, die Männern offen stand, die “als Soldaten Gottes dienen” wollten.
Ihre sakralen Gebäude sind normalerweise sehr imposant, mit überwältigenden Verzierungen, um die Macht der katholischen Kirche zu demonstrieren.